Renault: No engine upgrades for the Canadian Grand Prix
A major upgrade to the Renault engine was originally scheduled for the Canadian Grand Prix, but reliability concerns forced the French engine-maker to postpone the modification.
To improve the performance of its engines, Renault was supposed to launch a new version of its engine for itself and its customers by June and the race taking place in Montreal, but the brand with the diamond logo must postpone its introduction. Indeed, concerns about the reliability of the engines were highlighted during bench tests, and the engine manufacturer prefers to wait to avoid issues related to the engine’s fragility. The new unit is expected to be ready for the following Grand Prix in Azerbaijan.
Renault F1’s general manager, Cyril Abiteboul, stated on the subject: « We want to do it before the summer break. We want to synchronize it with the integration of the power unit, and we want to do it with power unit number three if possible. »
All engine manufacturers must use a total of four power units per season to avoid any penalties, a second engine will be installed for everyone for the next Grand Prix in Spain. The third round of changes is expected to occur for the Grand Prix of Great Britain or Hungary.
The difficulties encountered by the engine department of the French brand do not call into question the integrity of the new concept introduced by the team from Viry-Châtillon, according to Abiteboul: « It’s something that is still ongoing. We are reaching certain limits, but we believe that the concept we have this year is the right one. There are innovations in the pipeline and there is performance. The fact is that we need to master the engine’s reliability, as I have said several times. »
But the Frenchman acknowledges that the lack of reliability delays the engine’s development: « We know there is some fragility in the system, so we must deal with it. It’s true on the track and true on the test bench. And that’s really the difficulty with reliability issues. It’s the same for Honda; reliability issues negatively impact our development program at the base, and this is the kind of thing that handicaps us currently. We have to manage it. »
It’s a bit of a setback for the Red Bull team, which was hoping for this development to close the gap with Ferrari and Mercedes, even though the chassis also needs improvement. However, the Austrian team remains quite philosophical since there’s nothing they can do to speed up the process. Max Verstappen believes the development will indeed arrive in time for Azerbaijan: “It’s like that. We can’t change it. We just need to make sure we have a good car and it’s just a matter of waiting for Baku now.”
Cyril Abiteboul does not admit defeat in the race to help Renault close the gap with the competition that still has a slight advantage: « I do not give up on our ambitions to significantly reduce the gap with Mercedes and Ferrari that still exists. I’m not saying we can compete equally with them, but we have a plan to get there. »
